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EULOGY 



ON THE DEATH OF 



General ©Ijamaa £. j^omcr. 



BY DAVID T. DISNEY. 



CINCINNATI: 

JOHN HITCHLER, PRINT., "GREAT WESTERN OFFICE," FOURTH St. 

184 7. 










^ 



EULOGY, 



ON THE DEATH OF 



GENERAL THOMAS L. HAMER; 



BY 



J 

DAVID T. DISNEY 



OP CINCINNATI 



JOHN HITCHLER, PRINTER, j 

" Great Western Office," Old Council Building, Fourth Street, Cincinnati. 

1847. 



^^0^ 



A 



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PROCEEDINGS 

AT 

GEN. HAMER'S FUNERAL. 



On Saturday, the 13tli of February, 1817, the re- 
mains of Gen. Hamer were brought out from Higgins- 
port to Georgetown, (his place of residence.) The 
hearse was flanked by the Higginsport Artillery, 
Capt York, who marched with trailed arms, furled 
banners, and solemn and melancholy music, and was 
followed by an immense concourse of citizens, in car- 
riages and on horseback, who had assembled to pay 
their tribute of respect to the dllustrious dead. 

Minute guns were fired as the Process-ion came near 
the town, and the several church bells of the village 
tolled, to give notice of its approach. The Procession 
then proceeded to the late residence of the deceased, 
where the remains were delivered over by the Committee 
of Reception, to the Committee of Burial, and appro- 
priate remarks made by the Chairman of each Committee. 
The remains were left in charge of the latter, until 
Monday, the 15th, when they were delivered into the 
care of Jaimes H. Thompson, Esq., Commissioner for 
the State, appointed by the Legislature of Ohio, who 
issued the following order: — 



J 



4 GEN. H A ]\I E R S FUNERAL. 

ORDER FOR GEN. THOS. L. HAMER'S INTERMENT. 

GRAND MARSHALS— Hon. J. Winston Price, of Highland County, 
P. J. BucKNER, of Brown County. 

ASSISTANT MARSHALS— Col. D. Miller, Highland Co., Gen. 
James Loudon, David G. Devore, Andrew Ellison, of Brown 
Co., Col. DowTY Utter, Col. J. D. Morris, of Clermont Co. 

SPECIAL MARSHAL OF MASONIC LODGE— John S. Beaseley. 

The Procession Avill form at ten o'clock, at the late residence of Gen. 
Hamer, as follows :— 

1st. — Masonic Lodge, 

2nd. — Chaplain, Rev. Mr. Wroe; Orator, David T. Disney, of Ham- 
ilton County. 
3d. — The Hearse, under charge of Masonic Pall Bearers, R. C. Dugin, 

E. Ellsberry, H. Young, W. McColgin, J. Inskip. 
4th. — The family and relations of Gen. Hamer. 
5th, — The members of the Bar and Officers of the Court. 
6th. — The Military and Guard of Honor. 
7th. — Committee of Arrangements. 
8th. — The Citizens. 

Music under the control of the Marshals. All persons are requested 
to obey further orders of the Marshals. 

JAMES H. THOMPSON, Com'r. for the State. 
February 15th, 1847. 

The Procession was formed in obedience to the above 
order, and the Masonic brethren having been filed in 
columns on each side of the walk leading to the late 
residence of the deceased, and the remains of Gen, 
Hamer having been borne to the door under the direc- 
tion of the Marshals, Mr. Thompson, turning to the 
Masonic Pall Bearers, said: — 

"The State of Ohio, mindful of the illustrious services 
of the deceased, and desirous of perpetuating the memory 
of his existence to future ages, as a bright example of a 
Republican citizen, has ordered that his remains should 
be brought from the soil of Mexico, where he died of 
relentless disease, after his gallant conduct at the 



GEN. HAMER^S FUNERAL. 5 

storming of Monterey, and interred at home, by the author- 
ity and at the expense of the State, and in her name. The 
deceased, before he left home, for the service of his 
country, on a foreign soil and in a distant clime, 
requested that in the event of his death, his remains 
should be interred according to the forms, and with the 
honors of your order, of which he was an exemplary 
member — I, therefore, commit to your ancient order these 
remains, only that you may perform those ceremonies 
and do those honors which are meet for the occasion, 
and which comport with the belief of the people, that 
nothing will be done which does not point to the future 
and bright immortality of the deceased, and does not 
hold out to man the promise that after this life, he shall 
pass into an endless state of existence." 

The Masonic Pall Bearers having deposited the 
remains of the deceased upon the hearse, the procession, 
composed of ten thousand or more persons, proceeded 
to the Baptist church, in Georgetown, where, after an 
appropriate and feeling prayer, by Rev Mr. Wroe, a 
funeral oration was delivered by the Hon. David T. 
Disney, of Cincinnati. 

The Procession then moved forward to the grave. 
The Church yard w^as surrounded on the outside by Col. 
Mclntyre's Cavalry Squadron, and on the inside Capt. 
Donaldson's Light Infantry, and Capt. Ferree's Rangers, 
w^ere detained to take possession of the grave, and keep 
back the press of the immense crowd, which they did 
with much difficulty. 

The Masonic brethren formed a hollow square inside 
of the Military, within which, the members of the Court 
and Bar were admitted as chief mourners, and Col. John 
D. White, as master, read the impressive funeral service 
of the Order, and cast the white apron into the grave, 
as an emblem of innocence and purity. The whole 



6 GEN. HAMER's funeral. 

Order then proceeded around the grave, singing a 
funeral hymn, and each deposited in the grave the sprig 
of evergreen, the mystical emblem of eternal life. 

Mr. Thompson then approached the head of the grave, 
and taking from his hat a large badge of black crape, 
thus addressed the Masonic brethren: — 

'^You have deposited, with the remains, on behalf 
of your ancient Order, the emblems of innocence and 
immortality. It is mine, on behalf of this assembled 
multitude, and the State of Ohio, to deposite the badge 
of their grief, (and the melancholy emblem fluttered to 
the last resting place of him, w^hose loss it commemmo- 
rated and mourned.) It is done! THOMAS L. 
HAMER, is interred!! May all of us during our 
lives, imitate, and may history for all future time record, 
the many virtues of the deceased, and let his Epitaph, 
only be, '■^Interred hj the autlioritij of the State of Ohio.'''' 

The ceremonies at the grave were concluded by an 
appropriate benediction from the Rev. Mr. Wroe, and 
the Procession returned, in the same order which they 
had observed in coming, to the late residence of the 
deceased, where John Jolliffe, Esq., on behalf of the 
family and relations of Gen. Hamer, returned thanks, 
in a few feeling remarks, for the respect manifested on 
the melancholy occasion. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 7 

Georgetown, Brown Co., 0-, March 18, '47. 

Bro. David T. Disney: — The undersigned Committee, 

appointed by Georgetown Lodge, No. 72, respectfully 

solicit a copy. of your Funeral Oration on the burial of 

brother Thomas L. Hamer, for publication. 

Respectfully and fraternally yours, 

JOHN D. WHITE, 
JAMES LOUDON, \ Com. 
P. L. WILSON. 



Cincinnati, 29th March, 1847. 

Brethren: — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your 
favor under date of the 18th inst. The copy of the 
address which you solicit is at your disposal, and I beg 
to reciprocate your kind and fraternal feelings. 

Yours, very truly, 

D. T. DISNEY. 
John D. White, 
James Loudon, \ Committee. 
P. L. Wilson, 



EULOGY. 



Fellow Citizens: — 

We have assembled upon the present mournful 
occasion, to pay that last sad tribute of respect, which 
custom has demanded from the remotest time. In every 
age, and in every clime, among every nation with which 
humanity has peopled our busy earth, veneration for the 
dead, and the observance of rites and forms, in de- 
positing their remains, has characterized the race of 
man. The wild untutored Indian of our forests, as the 
savage barbarian of remoter climes, digs the rude grave, 
and with the solemn ceremonies of his tribe, consecrates 
the spot where is to rest the mouldering form he loved 
to gaze upon in life. In the polished days of Greece 
and Rome, the funeral processions of their illustrious 
men were scenes of pomp and splendor. And in our 
own day, the genius of civilization has led the people 
of every land to pay the most profound respect, to the 
ceremonies of the distinguished dead. 

The resting place of our fathers is intimately asso- 
ciated with the recollections of our birth — and its 
memory is ever found embalmed in the deepest feel- 
ings of reverence and affection in the human breast. 
As we dwell upon the thought, memory calls up the 
past, and we live again in the childhood of early youth. 
Home, with all its sweet affections, clings about the spot, 

and humanity consecrates it, with a devotion pure and 

2 



10 



EULOGY 



holy in itself. The savage son of the wilderness, re- 
ceding before the advancing wave of the white man's 
civilization, ere yet he looks his last upon the setting 
sun, dreams of the distant sepulchre of his ancestors, 
and feels himself but as a wanderer upon the earth. 
Such are the natural instincts of the human heart. 
How proper then for us to dwell, though briefly, upon 
this scene. 

Not mine the function, for those precepts of religion, 
which purer hands should give, but contemplating the 
history and character of him we mourn, to do that 
justice to his memory, which his merits and truth de- 
mands. Inadequate to the task, I would avoid the effort, 
but the memory of other days bids duty urge me on. 

The character of Thomas L. Hamer, indeed, affords 
an ample theme. But, among a people with whom he 
resided from the period of his youth, I need not dwell 
upon the difficulties which beset his early path. Nor 
relate how, unaided and unassisted, except by the 
unconquerable energies of his nature, he surmounted 
every obstacle, and elevated his reputation to that lofty 
pinnacle, to which the common voice of the public has 
assigned it. My own personal acquaintance with him 
commenced in the winter of '29, and the first vote which 
I ever cast in a legislative hall, was given for him as 
the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, 
in the Legislature of our State. Party politics then, as 
now, ran high, and difficult was the post he was called 
upon to fill. The warm and heated zeal of party would 
urge its own peculiar views, but the occasion ever found 
him at his post, unwavering from the importunities of 
his friends, or the bitter invectives of political foes. 
Swayed by a conscientious determination to impartially 
discharge his duties, he was led to a correct conclusion 
of their character, by a critical sagacity seldom equalled. 



EULOGY. 11 

and always firm and composed, the storm of contending 
parties gathered round him, to fall away rebuked by 
the evidences of his temper and the superiority of his 
mind. Plain and unpretending in his manners, his power 
was acknowledged; and his admiring friends even then 
predicted for him the highest honors of the Republic. 

It is sad for me to recall those days, and look upon 
this scene. The recollections of that time, come clus- 
tering thick around me, and .with mournful pleasure I 
dwell upon events so long since passed. But the 
maturity of his fame has shown how amply his genius 
sustained the promise that he gave. 

With a mind that never wandered, calm, clear, and 
collected, his strong and ardent impulses were ever 
obedient to his judgment, — the latter pointed out his 
path, and the former impelled him on it with a fervor 
and a power, which drove success within his grasp. 
His industry never tired, and with a mind so thoroughly 
disciplined, that his glance upon results seemed almost 
like intuition, he possessed abilities of the highest 
order in the commonwealth, and was abundantly adequate 
to the duties of any station. How ably he represented 
the people of this district in the Congress of the nation, 
you yourselves can tell. You have given the evidence of 
your appreciation of his fidelity to the trust, by his con- 
stant re-election, whenever it was solicited at your hands. 
He was faithful to your peculiar and local interests, but 
he was not less so to the great interests of the nation. 
On that broad arena, where the noblest intellects of our 
land met in daily strife, well and nobly did he maintain 
his reputation as a statesman. Placed in the vanguard 
of his party, by the common consent of the gifted minds 
who then filled the nation's councils, Mr. Hamer won a 
national reputation as a debater, which gave an increased 
lustre to the character of his State. No little schemes of 



12 EULOGY. 

cunning — no artful devices to catch tlie shifting; gale 
characterized his movements, but w^ith a manly elo- 
quence, he advocated the measures which he deemed 
essential to the nation's welfare, and with a loftiness of 
purpose which scorned the petty steps of meaner minds, 
he marched to the attainment of his objects, with a frank- 
ness of avowal which compelled the respect alike of 
friend and foe. 

In the halls of Congress, he seemed to have found a 
position peculiarly fitted to his talents. But notwith- 
standing his success in public life, he never neglected 
the study of his profession. As a lawyer, he occupied 
a rank attained by few. Classed by his associates at 
the bar with the ripest members of his profession, his 
efforts confirmed the reputation, and demonstrated his 
ability, to shine with equal lustre whether at the bar 
or in the Senate's forum. 

The fascinations and allurements of public station 
never alienated him from the less pleasing studies of his 
ordinary avocation, but with a facility of mind which of 
itself evinced his genius, he made his acquirements in the 
law the ministers to his power as a statesman. As a 
lawyer, he patiently waded through the well worn 
volumes of musty precedent, and with persuasive tongue 
vindicated his client's cause ; but as a statesman his 
views were enlarged and liberal. Studying man, in all 
the majesty of his native rights, as a politician, he was 
the uncompromising foe of every innovation upon his 
liberty. All his efforts tended to assert the right and 
power of the people, and in them alone he recognised 
the source of all rightful authority in the government of 
nations. Disdaining the arts of the demagogue, he 
planted himself on his princijiles, and though warm and 
zealous in attachment to his party, he never permitted 
its behests to blind him to their effects upon the public 



EULOGY. 13 

welfare. Holding that object as supreme, he scanned 
with a free and fearless eye, every movement which 
, might affect it, and never permitted his respect for the 
authority from which they emanated, to prevent his fair 
and unimpassioned examination of their merits and th^r 
justice. Prompt to speak, as well as think, he never 
hesitated to proclaim with frankness the convictions of 
his mind, and though occasionally in the stormy strife of 
party, he may have given unavoidable offence to some, 
yet when the temper of the moment had passed away? 
all respected him for the fearlessness of his course. 

He believed that a firm and lasting approbation was 
only to be won by upright and noble conduct, and with 
honor and virtue as his guides, he marched on, respected 
and esteemed by all. It was in the judgment as well 
as in the hearts of the people, that he sought an 
abiding popularity — not the popularity which, evanescing 
with the moment, perishes with the occasion which gives 
it birth, but a popularity which, arising from substantial 
merits, laboring with ability in behalf of the public weal, 
is the final and deliberate expression of approval from 
the intelligence and virtue of the community. Preferring 
the right to challenge the people's sanction, to that sanc- 
tion without a just and sufficient cause, he labored to 
render sound and lasting service to the public interests, 
secure, that he could command the approval of his 
conscience, and enjoy in after life the consolations which 
ever must arise from an unmixed purity of purpose. 

He had no vulgar arts. His nature was too stubborn 
in its frankness. In private as in public life, the same 
characteristics were ever his. You knew him, you met 
him in his daily intercourse with men, and can witness 
to the amenity of his manners, and the gentle firmness 
of his conduct. Kind and considerate, he understood 
the workings of the human heart. His noble spirit was 



14 EULOGY. 

deeply imbued with tenderness for his race. He knew 
that a manly heart may beat beneath the roughest looks, 
and that however differently fortune may have cast the 
lots of men, sensibility and mind have not always fol- 
lowed her awards. His charity for the unfortunate was 
humane and generous. No ostentation proclaimed the 
philanthropy of his feelings, but the promptness of his 
action attested their sincerity. With gentle respect, he 
won the affections of the humble, and all who approached 
him felt how truly he appreciated the dignity of man 
without regarding the favors which fortune had bestowed. 
As a husband and a parent he will long be remembered 
beyond the circle of his home. Tender and kind, he was 
an example in all the delicate relations of domestic life. 
The public may emulate the grief within the threshhold 
of his home, but none can measure the intensity of that 
sorrow, but those that have been bound to him by the 
strongest ties. Public exhibitions may claim an asso- 
ciation in their mourning, but the deep fountains of the 
heart well not up there like at his desolate fireside. 
The nation has lost a statesman and a faithful public 
servant, but the gloomy chambers of his mansion miss 
the husband and the father. An able and a prudent 
counsellor has left the public service. A kind and af- 
fectionate husband, a tender parent, has left forever 
the embraces of those he loved. A mourning' family 
weeps in its bereavement, and a whole community mingles 
in its grief. Such is the mournful spectacle we witness. 
Seldom indeed have we seen such wide-spread sorrow. 
His companions in arms, his associates in the profession 
of the law, the representatives of our State in Congress, 
the Legislature of Ohio, and the people in their primary 
asssemblages, have all united in paying tribute to his 
memory. They have eulogized his virtues and deplored 
his loss. In every part of this great State the public 



EULOGY. 15 

voice has spoken, and the tones of universal grief pro- 
claim his merits and his honors. A chasm is made. An 
empty void exists, where once the luminary shone, hut in 
his memory his children possess the proudest legacy. 

The example of such men forms the character of the 
age. His great ahilities daz.zled the public eye, but his 
daily practice of all the virtues of humanity w^on for 
him universal esteem and love. Our youth, studying his 
career, will be stimulated to renewed exertion, and learn 
that the purest paths alone can lead to sound and lasting 
fame. They will learn from the solidity of his reputa- 
tion, that public opinion is at last, not only a just but 
an enlightened judge. The institutions of our country 
open every avenue to ambition. The highest posts are 
within the reach of all who shall properly aim at their 
possession, and the general mourning on this occasion, 
will teach aspiring youth, that virtuous ability will es- 
tablish them deep in the affections of the people. No 
obstructions of prejudice or of law can hinder them in 
their onward path to greatness — but with virtue as their 
guide, they may indulge in the loftiest dreams of station. 
The icy clog of poverty will melt before their efforts — 
the impediments in their path will vanish in their 
struggles ; and their industry and their ambition, sooner 
or later, be rewarded by rising pre-eminently over all. 
Temporary applause may be lost and won by a freak of 
fortune, but an enduring fame can only be established 
by constant toil, animated by the love of virtue, and 
executed with an ability equal to the task. It is this, 
and privileges like this, that renders our condition such 
an admirable contrast to that of the fettered mass in 
Europe. With no aristocracy but the aristocracy of 
talent and of merit, every member of our community is 
united to uphold it, and while the bland smile of encour- 
agement is ever ready for the deserving; the rebuking 



16 EULOGY. 

frown of public censure withers the effort of the unprin- 
cipled. Storms may lour, and obstacles of every 
kind may interpose, but the resolute man of honor will 
struggle on to his fmal and just reward. Few indeed, 
have been the men whom the world calls great, that won 
not their eminence through most disheartening toil ; but 
when the race is run, and the prize has been awarded, 
how little apt we are to dwell upon the labor which 
prepared the champion for the struggle. In a government 
like ours, where the people are at once both the rulers 
and the ruled, strong are the incentives to a noble and 
manly life. Public opinion, that great arbiter, before 
which all must sooner or later bow, knows in our land 
neither the prejudice of birth or fortune, but calmly 
judging of his merits, awards to every man his own. 
Interest and design may with selfish hands sway the 
scales of public justice for a time, but its ultimate decree 
is as pure as it is lasting. 

Eminently philosophical, in the structure and forma- 
tion of his mind, Mr. Hamer subjected every action of 
his life to a cool and thorough examination, before he 
entered on it. Receiving nothing upon authority, he 
analysed a subject for himself, and though ever ready to 
yield a due respect to the opinions of all around him, 
he yet maintained, with a becoming dignity, the convic- 
tions to which his own reflections brought him. Look- 
ing abroad upon the world and its multifarious pursuits, 
with an eye of the keenest discrimination, his views of 
human nature were of a comprehensive cast. Unfettered 
and unbound by prejudice's narrow views, deserving 
merit found in him a friend. Nor did differences of faith, 
whether political or religious, engender in his heart that 
bitterness of spirit, which cannot tolerate the belief that 
honesty may exist, where opposition can be found. 



E ULOGY. 17 

Moulded in the very form of charity, he was kind and 
lenient to others' failings, and tho' when the occasion 
called he never failed to rebuke with frankness, yet he 
never admonished, but in the gentlest spirit. Firm and 
resolute in his character, no obstacle daunted him in 
his course, and few men moved to the attainment of 
an object with a more fixed and immoveable de- 
termination to succeed. Coolly weighing and estimating 
every difficulty to be encountered, it was not until after 
the most deliberate reflection that he marched to the 
assault, but having resolved upon the effort, he made it 
with every energy he possessed. Such a man would 
succeed in any walk of life. The poet and the painter 
may require peculiar gifts from nature for their profes- 
sions, but, perhaps with these exceptions, such a man 
would be respectable in every department within the 
limits of human undertaking, A clear mind and a solid 
judgment, combined with a spirit of decision far from 
common, were sufficient reasons for his elevation in the 
estimation of his fellow men. Of necessity, he must 
have felt his superiority, yet none so carefully concealed 
it. Entirely unaffected, his modesty prevented show, 
while his easy and pleasant manners rendered him the 
delight of his associates, and the charms of his conver- 
sation made him an agreeable companion on all occasions. 

With such a disposition, it was extremely natural that 
he should seek an association with an institution 
which preaches peace on earth, and seeks to ameliorate 
the condition of man. The precepts and rules of the 
Masonic Fraternity were in exact consonance with his 
natural traits, and as a brother of the mystic tie, he 
supported an institution whose influence he would gladly 
have seen extended to every member of the human family. 

His faithfulness to the regulations of the Order se- 
cured him the favor of his brethren, and by regular 

3 



18 



EULOGY. 



progression they exalted him to the sublimer mysteries 
of the craft. To say of him, that he was a true and 
faithful Mason, is in itself pronouncing the highest 
eulogy upon his character. That he was so, was found 
in his conformity to the requirements of the institution, 
and in which he presented an example to the world, 
which his brethren may be proud to follow. 

His ardent patriotism, his clear and powerful intel- 
lect, the purity of his life, and the rectitude of his 
conduct, vindicated in his person the Masonic Institu- 
tion from the aspersions of its enemies, and proclaimed 
the folly and ignorance of the malignity which has 
occasionally pursued its members with most vindictive 
fury. To be a faithful Mason is to be an honest man. 
Bound to sustain the laws of his country, every Mason 
is taught to be a good and useful citizen, and to conform 
with cheerfulness to the government under which he 
lives. They arc commanded that with quietness they 
eat their own bread, not being busy bodies, or walking 
about disorderly. To be a distinguished member of 
such an institution, is in itself a certificate of worth. 
Aud though ignorance may sneer, and malignity may 
snarl, the purity of the Order will shield it against both. 
With faith, hope and charity as its great and guiding 
rules, it will still continue to defy the assaults of envy, 
and command the approbation of the good. Venerable 
from its age, the Temple of Masonry still bides the 
destroying hand of time, and the changing habits and 
laws of men. With the hoar of antiquity clinging 
around its brows, the very fissures in its walls tell how 
bravely it has withstood the storms of ages, and the 
contemplation of its history teaches us that virtue is 
eternal. 

In every age the Masonic Fraternity have numbered 
among their members the great and gifted of the land. 



EULOGY. 19 

Men the most distinguished for virtue and ability have 
ever been found among its sons, and not among the 
least of those, is seen enrolled the name of him whose 
remains now lie before us. The record of his virtues 
and his deeds is deposited in safety. 

The government of the United States is unlike the 
government of any other nation upon earth. Spring- 
ing from the people, it is swayed and directed by its 
supporters. The fundamental law in our land is the 
mighty voice of the public. Its fiat over-reaches Courts 
of law and Congressional enactments. Unsanctioned 
by its approval, legislative ordinances are idle declara- 
tions; but sustained by the people they become as potent 
as human authority can make them. Our government 
is essentially a government of economy, and believing 
that all governments should be of right for the benefit, 
and not the oppression, of the governed, our fathers 
instituted it in such a form as they believed would be 
the least burdensome to the people. Made for and by 
themselves, they constituted their rulers merely agents 
of the public, and they not only determined to hold 
them to a strict accountability for the trust, but made 
them entirely dependant upon the citizens for support. 
Indeed, they were jealous of power in every form, and 
the history of subverted nations and ruined empires 
teemed with too many instances of the danger of stand- 
ing armies, for them to omit any precaution in guarding 
against their evils. Believing that the safety of the 
State might well be intrusted to those most interested 
in it, they reposed sufficient confidence in the citizen 
soldiery of the country to intrust the honor and repu- 
tation of tlie country in their hands, and well has history 
justified the act. 

The royal heads of Europe, with thrones upheld by 
mercenary bayonets, consult not the movements of the 



20 EULOGY. 

popular will, nor do the}' admit themselves dependant 
upon any outburst of the enthusiasm of the people. 
In their hands, the machine of State has far other ob- 
jects than the happiness of the mass, and the whims 
and caprices of monarchs rule, instead of the people's 
interests. Distrusting alike their intelligence and their 
patriotism, the advocates of monarchy have affected to 
believe that the want of a standing army is a weak- 
ness in our government, and the one which must render 
it powerless to maintain its dignity abroad. What- 
ever credit they may give it for ability to maintain a 
protracted resistance in defence, they have always 
urged, that without a standing soldiery we shall be 
incompetent to maintain the honor of our flag, by a just 
and speedy punishment of aggressors upon our rights. 
But men w^ho reason thus understand not the nature of 
free and liberal institutions, nor their operation upon 
the hearts and minds of men. The American pulse 
beats too ardently in behalf of the honor of the Ameri- 
can name, ever to permit her sons to remain quiescent 
when the reputation and interest of the nation calls. 
Prompt and responsive, they will rally around its flag, 
and their deeds have shown how gallantly they can 
sustain it. 

Over hill and over dale, over mountain and over 
valley, ran the story of Resaca's bloody plain. It was 
the call to arms, and proudly was it answered. Through 
the highways and the byways came the rushing throng, 
and myriads demanded the right to mingle in the conflict. 
The farmer left his plough, the mechanic forgot his shop, 
the lawyer left his brief, and emulously struggled which 
should uphold his country's banner. Impelled by a 
patriotism unknown in other lands, all sought the tented 
field. Home and its enjoyments were abandoned for 
the rudeness of the camp, and every heart was burning 
to avenge its country's wrongs. The spectacle was 



EULOGY. 21 

grand. A nation trembled with impatience to scourge 
the insulting foe. 

In such a scene, the chivalry of him we honor could 
not be missing. In the enjoyment of all which renders 
happy the life of man, he left it at his country's call. 
With a patriotism too lofty to gratify a selfish ease, his 
ardent spirit led him on. The path of honor was to him 
the path of dut}^ Nor wife, nor children, nor friends, 
nor the honorable ambition of civil life, could stay the 
generous sacrifice he made. The endearments of all he 
loved, he offered on the altar of his country's good, and 
turning from the laurels of the statesman, he sought the 
fields of war and all the perils of a hostile land. 

Exposed to the vicissitudes of a climate as unfriendly 
as the foe, as a soldier, he won the profound regard 
of his associates in arms. His gallantry and his coolness 
gave the highest promise of future greatne'ss, while the 
chivalry of his character made him universally beloved. 

In the bloody streets of Monterey, when the death 
storm was at its highest, and the shattering volley came 
pealing down, when the wild huzza, and the muskets' 
crash and the cannons' deadly boom told how the fatal 
work progressed — firm at his post he braved the terrors 
of the field. On a thousand wrings came flying the 
messengers of death — the earth was bathed in gore — 
the star-spangled banner fluttered in the smoke until 
the conquering power of the freeman's arm planted it 
on the topmost tower of the captured town. But not 
fated there to die, he escaped every danger of the day. 
Not among scenes of blood and carnage — not amid the 
groans of the wounded and the shrieks of the dying was 
his career to close — but when all was done, and the 
battle's strife had slept, the fiat came ; and disease de- 
stroyed what the fight had spared. Unsearchable are 
the ways of God. Thomas L. Hamer has passed from 
among us — may we profit by the example of his life. 








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